Bruce Tabor, District 1 county commissioner, proposed a sales tax of one-third of a half cent for the jail and one-third of a half cent for the sheriff’s office during the Sequoyah County Jail Authority meeting Monday.
Tabor said about the jail’s financial straights, “We’re losing revenue through the state.”
The Sequoyah County Jail, in operation since 2003, is losing money because of the lack of prisoners housed on behalf of the state. The county receives $31.50 per prison per day for non-violent inmates housed for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC). But the numbers of prisoners ODOC has farmed out to the county has dropped from an average of 38 to 21 per day, Christine Calbert, jail administrator said.
Calbert said Tuesday, “I talked to the state today. They said they are low on prisoners. It’s not anything we are doing wrong.”
Tabor said Tuesday that ODOC told the county Tuesday they will be pulling five to six inmates from the county jail next week, and at least another two during the following week, causing an even larger deficit.
Calbert said the jail needs about $850,000 a year to operate, an amount which was bolstered by housing ODOC prisoners.
At an average of 38 ODOC prisoners per day, the county was taking in $37,050 per month. With 21 ODOC prisoners now in the jail, the county is collecting $20,475 per month, which will drop even further with the loss of another seven to nine ODOC prisoners.
Tabor said the county jail counts on that income to keep the jail open and operating.
Tabor quipped, “We can’t quit feeding people even if they are incarcerated.”
The jail has room for 114 prisoners, and, as of Monday, had 83 prisoners, Calbert said.
Calbert told the members of the jail authority earlier this month that funding was becoming a problem.
She said the one-third of the half-cent sales tax brings in only between $30,000 and $35,000 a month, which, at best is only about half — $420,000 — of the $850,000 needed to operate.
Tabor added the jail needs at least $60,000 a month to continue operations.
The jail receives no money from the county budget — based on ad valorem taxes — for operations.
Tabor said if voters don’t approve the sales tax, county officials will have to consider a sinking fund to fund jail operations.
“We don’t want to do that,” Tabor said. “That puts the burden on the property owners.”
The sinking fund would have to be paid through the collection of property taxes.
“We’d rather everybody paid for the jail, not just the property owners,” Tabor said.
When county voters approved the construction of a new jail, they approved a half-cent sales tax for the jail, two-thirds of which was to pay for the jail’s construction, and that two-thirds of a half-cent sales tax stopped when the jail was paid off in 2007. Tabor said the jail’s cost was almost $4 million.
Tabor said he would like to see three questions on the tentative June 9 ballot. They would include the one-third of a half-cent sales tax for the jail, one-third of a half cent for the sheriff’s office, and a question about rewording the regulations under which the Sequoyah County 9-1-1 system operates.
Tabor explained that when county voters approved the 9-1-1 system in the 1980s, the ballot question was for a telephone tariff to pay for the system, but did not include enough money to pay 9-1-1 dispatchers’ salaries. The question, he explained, would not ask for additional money, only that the money raised by the phone tariff be re-appropriated so that more funds would be available to pay salaries.
Sheriff Ron Lockhart suggested to the members of the Sequoyah County Criminal Justice Authority last month that the county consider asking for a sales tax for the sheriff’s office and jail operations.
“We are underfunded and, if the county commissioners approve, we could bring it to a vote next summer,” Lockhart suggested.
He added that he knew the measure was turned down by voters two years ago (in 2007), but that the jail and sheriff’s office were in need of money. Housing federal prisoners would also raise money for the jail, he said.
But Calbert said the county jail does not meet federal standards — most particularly a large exercise area — and cannot house federal prisoners.
Monday Lockhart said his deputies worked long hours for little pay. He said his deputies, who make on average $1,200 a month, make less money that the county’s dump-truck drivers.
According to county records, the sheriff’s office has a budget of $586,230.57 for the current budget year.
Indicating the economy, Tabor concluded, “I know it’s a bad time for everybody, but every time they take a hit, we take a hit too.”
The members of the jail authority, which includes Tabor, Lockhart, District 3 Commissioner Mike Huff, Muldrow Police Chief Tony Lewis, and Dennis Fields of Gore, indicated the proposed questions will go to District Attorney Jerry Moore to write up for the ballot.
Tabor said those who asked for a vote on the liquor-by-the-drink proposal, which will be voted on May 12, asked that the sales tax proposal not be placed on that ballot.
